Chapter 96.2

“Aren’t you tired, Isabella?” Duke Kyar asked in concern.

Isabella smiled. “I’m not tired at all. Your Highness.”

“Then, please cook for me.”

“I’ll be back soon so please be patient.”

Isabella just told him to wait but he still followed her out.

Duke Kyar followed her downstairs to the kitchen and leaned against the wall.

He watched her back as she examined the ingredients she could use.

Isabella bent over a little bit to light a fire on the stove but unfortunately, she didn’t know how to.

She thought about summoning Casa to help her produce more fire but she decided against it.

While she continuously fanned the flames to cook the Archduke’s food faster, Duke Kyar approached her and offered, “I’ll do it.”

“Your Highness?”

Isabella wondered if he could do such a thing.

Duke Kyar smirked at her surprised expression.

“I’m better at this than you are, Isabella.” Duke Kyar answered as he pried the fan from her fingers.

He fanned the flames himself and brought them to life.

“Then, please continue, Your Highness.”

Leaving the fire to him, Isabella prepared the ingredients for the Archduke’s food.

She thought about making meat stew from the fresh meat she had seen.

After making the fire successfully, Duke Kyar stood beside Isabella while she cut the ingredients into pieces.

She couldn’t help but blush when she felt his piercing gaze on her face.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Your Highness?”

“You do cook better than I thought.” Duke Kyar praised her as he watched her cut the meat skillfully.

“I have lived alone for a long time so my skills are pretty basic.”

“About that lover, Isabella—-” After bringing that subject up, Duke Kyar paused with his teeth clenched.

“No. Please continue.”

Isabella had a rough idea of what he was curious about.

Isabella put the ingredients she had cut on the bowl and began, “This is my first time cooking for someone else—-”

Duke Kyar’s lips had twitched when she told him that it was her first time cooking for another.

“Oh, no! I guess I assumed wrongly.”

But when Isabella took that statement back, Duke Kyar’s face hardened in an instant.

“I once cooked dinner for Princess Seria when she visited me in my mountain cabin. It’s my first time to cook for someone if I didn’t include that.”

“Princess Seria? That princess again?” He muttered in discontent.

Isabella suppressed a smile.

She used to find his jealousy annoying but now he seemed adorable.

“From now on, all of my new experiences will belong to you, Your Highness,” Isabella said with a smile.

“You treat me with such kindness and patience that I don’t feel bad at all.” Duke Kyar scowled. “But why are there so many things you haven’t done with that past lover?”

“Wh—What?”

Isabella was rather embarrassed at Duke Kyar’s blunt questions.

“Of course, I like that you hadn’t done a lot of things with that person, but I don’t understand why you can’t forget such a man easily.”

Her heart ached every time Isabella thought of Duke Kyar in the past.

There were so many things she could have done for him but all she had now were regrets.

That was why Isabella wanted to be nicer to him this time around.

“I promise I won’t be jealous, Isabella. Just explain to me why you can’t forget about him.”

She didn’t want to fall for this trap and hurt him again.

“I already forgot about him, Your Highness. You are the only man I have in my heart.”

‘—because you are the only one.’ Isabella thought as she stared at him fondly.

She didn’t have to say that out loud.

Duke Kyar slowly approached her.

“It’s nice to hear such a lie.”

Smiling, the Archduke caressed her silver hair.

The gesture was infinitely sweet but why did it almost make her tears stream down her face?

Isabella remembered him patting her hair like this a long time ago.

**

By the time Duke Kyar finished eating the meat stew  Isabella made, the caretakers had returned to the villa.

The couple was flustered to find them sitting at the table and eating dinner.

“You don’t have to panic. Since both of you already had your dinner, you should go to your separate rooms and rest.” Duke Kyar told the caretakers calmly before placing his spoon down on the table.

He didn’t want others to disturb his cozy time with Isabella.

However, the tactless couple replied that they would clean up afterward.

Grand Duke Kyar sent them out by saying,  “There is no need for that.”

Finally, he could spend time with Isabella without any interruption.

He didn’t know how long he had been waiting for this day to come.

Duke Kyar even dreamt about spending the night with Isabella in the barracks last night.

Although he slept in his dream without doing anything, he didn’t want to spend this long-awaited night in vain just like that.

“The sun has set at last.” He murmured in a low voice, looking out the dim window.

Isabella’s face turned red in an instant, understanding the implication.

The mere sight of her beautiful face made him hard.

From the moment she clumsily kissed his cheek in the carriage, he was so close to claiming her right then and there.

His body’s response to her clumsy seduction felt dangerous that he had to suppress the strong urge to wrap her in his embrace.

“Well, would you like to go up first? I’m gonna clean this place——”

That was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

He reached out and held her in his arms.

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